Nationwide — Within minutes of examining the facts it becomes clear-cut that his was yet another case of convoluted conviction. Entertainment titan, Michael McCant, known in the music circles as “Billionaire Cat,” was sentenced to 46-months in federal prison in the very prime of his music industry career. Prosecuted on claims of tax evasion and orchestrating a music industry-related Ponzi scheme, McCant was released in October 2015.

Beloved and revered for his philanthropic nature, McCant has always been an advocate for positive change. Described by many as kind-hearted, over the past twenty years he became widely known for his giving nature – donating to the homeless; assisting underprivileged children in San Francisco Bay and his childhood hometown of North New Jersey; supporting and investing in the careers of young rappers, singers, producers and instrumentalists.

It is no wonder then, that when his own family was faced with tumultuous times – his mother paralyzed after she suffered a major stroke, and his father hospital admitted to hospital due to renal failure – McCant took on the financial burden. McCant would remit in excess of $50,000 a month for his parents’ medical care. Understandably, over time, despite his financial stability, these expenses took financial toll on the music mogul.

With medical expenses rising, McCant was eventually convinced by one of his trusted friends to pursue a capital generation opportunity. By opening up his private music company to outside investment from several wealthy women—known personally by his trusted friend—and utilizing those funds to host and promote rap concerts, McCann would be able to generated capital to aid with his family mounting expenses, and repay his investors at an attractive interest rate with proceeds from the concerts.

What initially seemed like a viable business opportunity would later lead to a dark period for the entertainment entrepreneur. While McCant never once reneged on his commitment to his investors over the five-year period the investment opportunity was offered, he believes the chain of events which eventually lead to his imprisonment was directly linked to the fact that on many occasions he declined unwanted sexual advances and expectations from his female investors.

In McCant’s estimation several of his investors may have felt slighted and harboured a level of resentment towards him because he did not act on their advances. This, he notes, coupled with humanities’ tendency to seek to absolve themselves from wrongdoing, would have led to him being unjustly and unfairly handed over to the IRS and State Franchised Tax board when investigations began.

When asked about the allegations that he duped a multitude of older women, McCant says nothing could be further from the truth. Rather he notes that a review of his financial records and the history surrounding the investment dealings will reveal that:

* Repayments with interest were consistently made to all investors for five consecutive years with no delays.
* No charges were ever made against him by any of the alleged victims for loss of funds, theft, or failure to honour the terms of investment.
* Only four of his investors were slightly older than him.

Considering this, and the fact that he prides himself on being a man of his word, dedicated to assisting everyone he can, McCant admits that the ordeal and his time in prison took a lot out of him, emotionally and mentally. It’s a hard pill to swallow, he says being levied unjustly and facing such harsh criticism, enduring character assassination, slander and defamation.

Yet, despite it all McCant says he refused to lose his positive outlook and his zeal to assist his community and people. Now more than ever he is determined to rebuild and to do as much as he can to continue pushing budding talented musicians forward, and to assist those who are less fortunate.